HRD ‘no homework for Classes 1, 2’ move makes parents happy

According to the official order, the education ministry has “instructed all the states and Union Territories to formulate guidelines to regulate the teaching of subjects and weight of school bags in accordance with the instructions”.

As per these instructions, which the schools have been asked to comply with, institutions cannot assign homework to students of classes 1 and 2.

“Schools should not prescribe any other subjects except language and mathematics for classes I and II and language, EVS and mathematics for classes III to V students as prescribed by the NCERT,” the order said.

After the new directives were issued, academicians in the state urged the Tamil Nadu government to implement the Centre’s order while parents claimed that even now primary level students carry bags too heavy for them while school authorities care little about the matter.

“Despite strict guidelines that students should not be asked to bring additional books, extra materials and the bag should not exceed the prescribed limit, most schools do not follow it,” SK Shankaran, a member of the city’s parent teacher association, said. He added students were forced to carry more books as schools do not have facilities to keep store notebooks and other study materials. “We have communicated with several schools but many do not implement the rules,” he added.

A senior teacher from matriculation school at Pammal said, “We do not have sufficient storage facilities in our schools for students to keep their notebooks here. Therefore, they are asked to bring all the required textbooks and notebooks every day.”